Mark Kozelek - What's Next to the Moon CD
Mark Kozelek's (Sun Kil Moon, Red House Painters) What's Next to the Moon will stand potentially as one of the more unusual albums of the rock era. Listened to as either a compelling collection of acoustic songs or an unusual take on another band's material, the album should remain essential to all who cross its path.
The album is composed entirely of drastically rearranged acoustic covers of Bon Scott-era AC/DC songs. What's Next to the Moon follows the release of his debut solo EP Rock 'n' Roll Singer, which also features three AC/DC covers: "Rock 'n' Roll Singer," "You Ain't Got a Hold on Me," and "Bad Boy Boogie." The versions of "Rock 'n' Roll Singer" and "Bad Boy Boogie" on this album are different from the versions on the EP.
"Essential Kozelek Albums"
"Nothing about the originals sounds like they’d work in this forlorn, acoustic setting, but it’s an intriguing experiment that’s both respectful to the source material yet slyly irreverent: He knows he’s not locating new meaning, but amplifying the loneliness and yearning in the Aussie band’s hedonistic rock." - Pitchfork
"Mark Kozelek of Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon has appeared on (and spearheaded) tribute albums to John Denver, Modest Mouse, Kris Kristofferson, and now, with What's Next To The Moon, AC/DC's first frontman Bon Scott. What's amazing here is that Kozelek only kept the lyrics unchanged. Everything else was deconstructed, detuned, rearranged and mellowed with melodies that reveal a surprisingly gentle and riddled soul in Bon Scott's songwriting. And with Kozelek's buttery baritone putting the lyrics into an acoustic folk context, he forces us to think of Bon Scott's songs in the same vein as those of Jackson C. Frank, Nick Drake, or Leonard Cohen. If that seems crazy, go straight to "Bad Boy Boogie." Since AC/DC's version is carried by the distorted crunch of a grown man in an English school boy uniform blasting riffs from a wall of Marshall stacks, the original music helps make "Bad Boy Boogie" the puffy-chested warning strut that AC/DC fans know well. But Kozelek's reworking reveals the lyrics in a softer light of sullen sentiments that could have come from a more melancholic muse. It's brilliant not just because this works for every song, but also because it all sounds really truly beautiful." - Apple Music
